Sandra Byrd's "Mist of Midnight"--a gothic Victorian treat

I've become a slightly more impatient reader in recent years.  If a book doesn't grab me fairly soon after I open it, I have trouble making myself keep reading.

Mist of Midnight, by Sandra Byrd, offered no such problem. As soon as the reader meets Rebecca Ravenshaw, then finds out her extraordinary quandary, you're in.

This from Amazon.com:

"In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.

"Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but her home and incomes."

Rebecca is a likable heroine, and I kept turning pages to find out how she would deal with her plight and her growing attraction to Captain Luke Whitfield, who has taken over her family's estate. In true Gothic novel fashion, we have to question whether the handsome captain is friend or foe. (We're hoping it's friend, because we're a little in love with him ourselves.)

In fact, the entire story has that Gothic atmosphere that I used to enjoy in writers like Victoria Holt.

About Sandra Byrd

Sandra Byrd

Sandra Byrd first drew me in with her contemporary French Twist  series about a young woman who becomes a pastry chef in France,  Then I loved her Tudor series, Ladies in Waiting.  I'm not surprised that her Victorian series, Daughters of Hampshire, should be any different.

I've read dozens, if not hundreds, of Christian fiction books.  Sandra Byrd has that something extra that makes a writer stand out in the genre.  Faith is naturally infused into her books in, as she once told me in an interview, an "organic" way.

Most of all, her books have the quality I ask for of any writer:  Make me care about the story and characters.  Give me the sheer enjoyment of reading that makes me keep turning the pages.  Sandra Byrd does that, in spades.

Disclosure: I was provided an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.  This is my honest review.

A fictionalized peek into the story of Charles Dickens' wife

I'm fascinated with Charles Dickens.  I have been for quite some time.  And while I enjoy his writing, and feel he was one of the most amazing storytellers of all time, I've always thought his treatment of his wife Catherine was shabby at best.

Girl in a Blue Dress, subtitled "A Novel of the Life & Marriage of Charles Dickens," did nothing to change my opinion of Dickens.  But it was a truly interesting read.

This is from Amazon.com;

At the end of her life, Catherine, the cast-off wife of Charles Dickens, gave the letters she had received from her husband to their daughter Kate, asking her to donate them to the British Museum, “so the world may know that he loved me once.” 

Author Gaynor Arnold changes some things.  For instance, Charles and Catherine Dickens become Alfred and Dorothea Gibson, and she changes the names and birth orders of their children.

  She also adds some key scenes which probably didn't happen in real life...like allowing Dorothea to confront the young actress who destroyed her marriage.

Other than that, as far as I can ascertain, Arnold stuck fairly close to the facts.  Dorothea/Catherine is a sympathetic figure because after giving her husband the best years of her life, she is literally cast aside.  Oh, Charles Dickens made sure the mother of his children was well-cared for, but that's about it.

One can feel the heartache of this woman who apparently never stopped loving the man who threw her over.

Arnold paints Charles Dickens just as he seemed to be: larger than life, brilliant, selfish, a superstar in his time and a lasting literary legend.

If, like myself, you have an interest in Charles Dickens and would like to gain more insight into his marriage and how it ended up, this book is a must-read.

Lauren Willig's "The Ashford Affair"

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two books came out at about the same time, both set in Africa in the 20s. I couldn't finish one of them--Deanna Raybourn's A Spear of Summer Grass--but I really enjoyed the other, Lauren Willig's The Ashford Affair.

I'm normally a big Deanna Raybourn fan. I love her Lady Julia series. Lady Julia is an eminently likable character, and her husband Brisbane is one of the most attractive male characters ever--brooding, mysterious, very cool.

But I had to quit reading A Spear of Summer Grass simply because I didn't like the characters. I had no sympathy or connection whatever with Delilah, and her male love interest just bored me. Definitely no Brisbane.

On the other hand, The Ashford Affair captured me immediately. I liked the main character, Clementine, very much. As for the characters from the past (the 1920's), I wasn't crazy about any of them, but I was vitally interested in their story.

Addie is one of the most multi-dimensional characters I've encountered in fiction. Kind of like real life--few people are totally good or bad. Addie had her likable, admirable qualities, but definitely her questionable ones as well.

Bea was much like Delilah in Raybourn's book, but unlike Delilah, she had to face the consequences of her selfish, devil-my-care attitude.

Altogether, an entertaining and absorbing tale.



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My review of Kate Alcott's "The Dressmaker": so what happened after the Titanic sank?

The Dressmaker: A Novel by Kate Alcott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tess, a young maid who dreams of being a dressmaker and designer, lucks into boarding a ship in the employ of famous fashion designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon and her husband.

The ship is the Titanic, and of course we know how that voyage turned out. Fortunately for Tess and the Duff Gordons, they survive, and once in New York, Tess's dreams begin to come true.

But questions are being raised about the reasons for the Titanic's tragedy and who was to blame, as well as why many of the lifeboats were only partially filled. And the Duff Gordons are squarely in the middle of the controversy.

That means Tess's loyalties are torn between her new employer and a handsome sailor she befriended on the ship, Jim Bonney, who is determined to tell the truth about what really happened on the lifeboat he shared with the wealthy couple.

Good story

I gave this book four stars mainly because it's a good story that held my interest and propelled me along. It also renewed my interest in one of the most fascinating true stories of all time.

Pretty much everything about the doomed ship is intriguing, and I liked this book because it centered around the aftermath of the sinking. We've seen and heard a lot of stories about the actual event...what happened to the survivors who had to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on?

As well, many of the people in the book (although not Tess and Jim) were real people who figured prominently in the Titanic's story, including the Duff Gordons.

"Modern sensibility"?

However, the story falls a bit flat in the area of character development and emotion. It's not a surprise to find that Kate Alcott is a journalist who has covered national politics.

Another reviewer on Goodreads said that the book is guilty of giving its characters a "modern sensibility." I have to agree. They're quite politically correct, and even the hero, Jim Bonney, admits he "doesn't dismiss" the Bolsheviks and tells Tess "hopefully": "There's this bloke, Vladimir Lenin...have you heard of him?"

Also, will someone please tell me when the use of the word "okay" became common? Did people really say it frequently in conversation in 1912? I'm genuinely curious.

I will say that the characters in this book generally talked like contemporary people.

These are quibbles, though. If you like a good, entertaining tale against the backdrop of one of history's most fascinating events, you'll probably enjoy this book...just as I did.










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My Review of Maid of Fairbourne Hall, by Julie Klassen

OK, so that lasted all of 20 days...the retiring of my book blog!

Turns out, this really does seem like the best place to put my book reviews.  So I'm back.  And you know what they say about a woman's perogative, and all that! :)

Anyway, on to my review....

After reading all of Julie Klassen's previous books, my interest is always piqued when I hear she has another out.

And reading The Maid of Fairbourne Hall was the perfect antidote to the intensity of The Hunger Games and a string of P.D. James mysteries.

Julie Klassen's books may contain some danger and intrigue--they're not all fluff and frivolity--but they are books that you can just sit back and enjoy, for the sheer pleasure and fun of a good story.

Margaret Macy is a typical young lady of the Regency era--rich, beautiful and spoiled.  But she's not without decorum, and when her stepfather tries to force his boorish nephew on her in marriage--even to the point of suggesting the nephew compromise Margaret in order to insure the marriage--Margaret decides to make like Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife.

And of course, the stepfather is only after the fortune she'll inherit when she turns 25 in just a few months.

She has no one to turn to and only a few coins to her name.  So what does she do?  She joins her own maid in leaving London and seeking a position elsewhere.

As a housemaid.

A good deal of enjoyment of this book is watching the tables turn on this pampered girl.  Disguised with a wig and spectacles, Margaret--now "Nora"--now literally finds out how the other half lives.  And that includes scrubbing floors and emptying chamber pots.

But Margaret is always likable, and we grow to respect her for adapting to her new lifestyle and gaining respect for the kind of people who have served her all her life.

And of course, there's a complication or two when Margaret finds out just whose house it is that she's working in.

Julie Klassen has obviously done her research when it comes to the part that servants played in that era--basically, that a wealthy home couldn't exist without them.  They often lived under severe rules and regimens, rarely getting any time off and working for very little pay.

I enjoyed the story's romance, and appreciated the element of faith that is an undercurrent of the main character's lives.

If you need an escape from the winter doldrums, you can probably find it in this light but refreshing historical romance.

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Saturday Review of Books: Siri Mitchell's She Walks in Beauty

She Walks in Beauty, by Siri Mitchell, had been on my to-read list for quite while, so I was delighted to find it at my local library.

Several other bloggers had enthusiastically recommended this book, and I can say it didn't disappoint at all.

The story

Clara Carter is the daughter of a wealthy physician, living on Fifth Avenue in New York City during the so-called "Gilded Age" of the late 1890's.

Although she mourns her beautiful mother, who died when she was a child, Clara is happy enough pursuing her studies with her governess and reading poetry.

In fact, she's bright and intelligent enough that her governess thinks she could get into Vassar, the college for women.

But academically-minded girls are not particularly wanted in society, and Clara had a different destiny.

She must marry. And she must marry the heir to the DeVries fortune, in particular. To that end, her studies are ended and replaced with different learning: things like which fork to use, how to communicate by using a fan, how to waltz, and most difficult of all, how to wear a corset 24/7 to whittle one's waist down from 22 inches to 18.

Clara is to be a debutante, thrust into a whirl of social obligations to which marriage is the only possible outcome.

There are complications. Her best friend, Lizzie, is her main challenger for the hand of Franklin DeVries. Added to that is the fact that Clara much prefers Franklin's younger brother--a kind, funny young man who also has a depth of spirituality that Clara hasn't seen since her mother died.

Then, Clara learns things about her father that cause her carefully-constructed world to crumble.

My Thoughts

I loved this book, and read it in a very short time because I had a very difficult time putting it down.

Siri Mitchell's writing is perfect for getting inside the mind of a young girl of that era. Her obvious in-depth research lends an effortless authenticity to the story.

Things like the corruption of New York City politics, the shameful poverty of immigrant tenement dwellers, as well as the often hypocritical and haughty world of the wealthy are among the themes that inform this truly absorbing story.

Clara's character is also faced with the question, "Does God really love me just as I am?" In a world where she has to change everything about herself, including her waist size, to please society, Clara surmises that God's unconditional love would be an extravagant gift indeed.

I'm participating today in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books--click the icon for more information!

Saturday Review of Books: Diane Noble's The Betrayal: Brides of Gabriel Book Two

Having read and been very moved by the first book in this series (my review here), I was delighted to find The Betrayal: Brides of Gabriel Book Two, by Diane Noble, at my local library.

It's not a very big book, and I had it read in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

This book is just as engrossing, just as compelling, as the first one.

The first book focused on Lady Mary Rose Ashley, who fell madly in love with Gabriel MacKay aboard an America-bound ship. They married and were converted to Mormonism.

How would you like it if you married someone, both of you deeply in love, planning to spend the rest of your lives together--and your husband decided to add another wife to the mix?

This is what happened to Mary Rose in Book One, and the pain and devastation were made worse by the fact that Wife Number 2 was her very best friend.

Bronwyn's viewpoint

Book 2 is mainly from the viewpoint of Wife Number 2, Bronwyn. At first, I didn't like this. But it's to Diane Noble's credit that I came around to understanding and even liking Bronwyn.

Now, there's a third wife in the mix--Enid, who was Gabriel's teen-aged sweetheart. Enid is determined to supplant both Mary Rose and Bronwyn in wifely status and in Gabriel's heart.

Along with the very real problems of three women married to one man, matters heat up to a dangerous degree for the Latter Day Saints.

Bronwyn and Mary Rose are appalled by the increasing practice of marrying off very young girls to very old men, as well as the Saints' new creed of "blood atonement"...literally killing people they consider apostates, or people opposed to Mormon doctrine.

It becomes clear that in order to save their combined family from danger--and because they are both now repudiating objectionable Mormon doctrines, thus targeting themselves as apostate--they have to make plans to flee.

Gabriel makes me mad

I've got to admit, I can't bring myself to like Gabriel very much.

Although he does it all in the name of his understanding of God's will, it's got to be a pretty cushy gig for a man to keep adding beautiful women to his harem.

These books further illustrate the fact that, although it may be cool for the man, women were simply not created to share a man. A woman needs to know that she alone is the focus of her husband's love and devotion. I cannot, under any conceivable circumstances, imagine sharing my husband with another woman!

Compelling read

Noble refrains from any blanket condemnation of the Latter Day Saints, but she doesn't stint on depicting the faults and excesses of some of the early Mormon hierarchy. That would probably be difficult for a modern-day Mormon to read.

But this book was compelling and absorbing from start to finish--one of the best I've read all year.

I haven't heard if there's going to be a Book 3, but I certainly so! I believe the stories of Gabriel and his wives still have a lot to be told.

I'm participating today in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books!

A historical novel that rambles a bit too much...

Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this book up at 60 per cent off at the Borders' going out of business sale, for two reasons: I love historical novels, I love BIG juicy novels, and because of the rave reviews on the back cover--including the ubiquitous designation (yes, I've used it too) of "unputdownable."

Well, Lady of Hay wasn't a bad book. In fact, it was well written and well-researched, and I did care about the main character, Joanna.

And though I love big books, I believe this one suffered from being TOO big.

Not only was it putdownable, I found myself almost grudgingly picking it up again, as if it was a school assignment and not something I was just reading for pleasure.

It's about a modern-day woman who submits to hypnosis, revealing that she was a baron's wife in the 12th century. As the regressions become more in-depth and frightening, Joanna realizes that her past life has become inextricably--and dangerously--intertwined with her present life.

Yep, you have to swallow the whole "past life" thing, but this IS fiction, so I'm OK with suspending disbelief.

However, I found myself getting a little impatient with the lengthy narratives that took place when Jo "regressed" into her past life character, Matilda...and I even started skimming a bit, which is something I try never to do when I read a book.

Honestly, if it were edited down to roughly half its current size, I honestly think it would have been a terrific book. It's a compelling story about a fascinating woman who really existed.


It's just...too long.




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My Review of To Die For, by Sandra Byrd

I've always been fascinated by Anne Boleyn. So when I found out that Sandra Byrd--author of the wonderful French Twist series--had written a book about Anne, I knew I had to read it.

Historical fiction is a departure for Byrd, but it fits her like a hand in a glove. She effortlessly adopts the voice of Meg Wyatt, Anne Boleyn's lifelong friend and lady-in-waiting.

Through Meg's eyes, we see Anne's trajectory from a charming young girl to the king's adored favorite to beloved wife, and ultimately to falsely accused and abandoned queen.

Meg is a very likable narrator--a keen observer with intelligence, dignity and common sense. Though she loves Anne dearly, she's in no way blind to her friend's foibles.

While I knew the conclusion to Anne's story, I didn't know Meg's--and I found myself rooting for a happy ending for her.

I also loved Meg's faith journey--from anger at and estrangement from God, to the wonder of coming to know Him on a personal level in a time when English people were finally being able to read Scriptures in their own language.

Sandra Byrd's writing brings the Tudor court to sparkling life, with all its magnificent fashions, sumptuous feasts, and imposing pageantry. Not to mention gossip, intrigue, and political machinations that could turn deadly in the blink of an eye.

To Die For is the story of Anne Boleyn--without a doubt one of the most fascinating women in history--but it's also a story of a deep and loyal friendship between two women. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Teaser Tuesday: Mine Is The Night

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Elizabeth pushed a stray pin into the cushion. "Had you been with me in January when I lost my husband, all the handkerchiefs in your linen closet would not have dried my tears."

I'm reading Mine is the Night, by the wonderful Liz Curtis Higgs!

Saturday Review of Books: Mona Hodgson's Too Rich for a Bride

I underestimated this book.

When I first started reading Too Rich for a Bride by Mona Hodgson, I thought it was just going to be a lightweight, fluffy romantic historial fiction read. You know, boy-and-girl-meet-cute, boy-and-girl-fall-in-love, and so on.

Instead, I discovered that this well-written little novel makes important points about greed, ambition, trust and doubt.

Ida Sinclair is driven by her desire to succeed as a businesswoman--an unusual and formidable goal for a woman in late 1890's Colorado.

Tucker Raines is an appealing character--a young preacher who just wants to pursue the ministry, but finds himself saddled with the struggling business of a father who is in ill health and seems to want nothing to do with him.

Ida and Tucker do meet kind of cute, but there are obstacles to them getting together--not the least of which is Ida's determination that men have absolutely no place in her life while she climbs the ladder to success.

I enjoyed this thoughtful, insightful story. It was the first time I had read anything by Mona Hodgson, and I came away with a genuine respect for her writing. I will definitely read more by her.

I recommend it, especially if you don't mind your historical romances infused with Christian faith.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Blogging for Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I'm participating today in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books--click on the icon for more info!

Saturday Review of Books: Rosslyn Elliott's Fairer than Morning

Expecting a fairly fluffy historical romance, I was pleasantly surprised by a gripping story that wouldn’t let me stop turning pages


Isn't it great when a book totally exceeds your expectations?

When I picked up Rosslyn Elliott's Fairer than Morning, I was expecting a light, enjoyable romance. Having just read a fairly intense Dean Koontz book (What the Night Knows), I needed a change.

What I didn't expect was a solid, engrossing, compelling tale that would scarcely let me put it down (I started it yesterday and finished it tonight!)

Far from a fluffy romance, this novel has a gravitas that caught me pleasantly by surprise. Actually, the "romance" part isn't the main theme.

Instead, we step back in time to 1820's Pittsburgh, when quiet Christians courageously help slaves escape to freedom...when young apprentices could experience real cruelty at the hands of their masters...when the poverty-stricken and downtrodden are forced to live in poor-houses.

The story centers around Ann Miller, the daughter of a man who is a farmer, saddlemaker, and circuit-riding preacher; and Will Hanby, an orphan who eagerly accepts apprenticeship, only to find brutality.

Ann is a likable heroine, accepting her role as substitute mother to two little sisters with maturity and grace, while longing for love and marriage.

But I have to admit I looked forward to Will's scenes. When I read a story in which someone is treated with outrageous cruelty, I'm immediately caught up. Will grabbed my heart. I had to keep turning the pages in the hopes that he would find justice.

I also really liked Ann's father. I loved the way his humble, unassuming life illuminated Christ, with a quiet dignity and sacrificial kindness.

I also liked Rosslyn Elliott's writing style, which seemed perfectly in tune with the era about which she was writing--never a jarring anachronism or out-of-place phrase. Too, she lets her story unfold without any forced drama.

This is, frankly, one of the best books I've read in a while, of any genre. I'm glad it's just the first in a trilogy called "The Saddlemaker's Legacy," because I definitely want to read them all.

An interesting note: The story is based on true events in the lives of the real Will Hanby and Ann Miller--several of the things depicted in the book really happened. The few things that could seem even remotely far-fetched are some of the very things that actually took place.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Wynn-Wynn Media. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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I'm participating today in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books. Click on the icon to find out more!

Book trailer for Liz Curtis Higgs' Mine is the Night

One of my very favorite authors is Liz Curtis Higgs. I've had the pleasure of interviewing her for radio several times, and she's just as amazing a woman as she is a writer.

Here is the trailer for her new book, Mine is the Night (no, I didn't voice this one!)

And by the way, I heartily recommend EVERYTHING Liz has written!

My Review of Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner

A Manhattan antiques dealer with a troubled marriage stumbles upon a centuries-old ring that, coincidentally, has her name engraved in it: Jane.

The captivating story that results--actually, the parallel stories of the modern Jane, the pre-Elizabethan Jane, and Jane's friend and seamstress, Lucy--is a beautifully-written tale that emphasizes the importance and the impact of the choices that women make.

I had heard a lot of good things about Susan Meissner, but this is the first time I've read one of her books. I was impressed.

Her writing is lovely, thoughtful and descriptive. Her research and grasp of the era in which Lady Jane Grey and Lucy Day live is impeccable--right down to the detailed descriptions of the elaborate dresses the nobility wore in those days.

In fact, those portions of the book reminded me somewhat of books I've read by Phillippa Gregory, without the explicitness.

Yet, Meissner seems equally at home writing about a completely contemporary setting.

I closed the book feeling that I'd learned something--not only about history, but about life--and I was sorry to see it end. I'll definitely be reading more of Susan Meissner.


A portrait of Lady Jane Grey by an unknown artist, from Historic-UK.com


Note: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. (This did not influence my opinion of the book.)

Order Lady in Waiting, by Susan Meissner

Saturday Review of Books: The Sister Wife by Diane Noble

I can't remember when a novel has affected me as viscerally as did The Sister Wife, by Diane Noble.

If you have a husband that you love, can you imagine having to share him with another woman? Unthinkable...but that's what Mary Rose McKay is forced to do in this beautifully-written, engrossing book.

Author Diane Noble says the story began, as many great stories do, with "what if?" questions. What if there was young, beautiful aristocratic Englishwoman whose grandfather decides to follow Brigham Young to America and the fledgling Mormon religion?

What if she and her newfound love, Gabriel McKay, are swept up in the fervor--and ultimately, she is forced to share the love of her life with another woman who is not only beautiful, but Mary Rose's best friend?

I found myself becoming emotional, especially during a particularly powerful scene in which Mary Rose is in anguish as she hears the sounds of her husband's passion with another woman. Her pain is palpable.

The book is not a rant against the Mormon faith, although its differences from Biblical truth are emphasized.

More than an indictment of any one religion, though, this fascinating story asks important questions about what happens when people look to any man for their standards of faith and practice...and lift up that man to a position demanding worship and obedience that belongs only to Christ.

Mary Rose is a wonderful heroine--beautiful, intelligent, and outspokenly skeptical of the demands of "the Prophet." The book has its light moments to balance out the seriousness, and even danger as the "Saints" face harassment and even death.

I've got to admit, I'm frustrated with Mary Rose's husband, Gabriel, as he submits to the edict requiring plural marriages. (I've always thought the husband in a plural marriage had a nice little thing going, unlike the poor women who had to share him.)

But in my years of being a Christian, I've seen enough otherwise strong men blindly submit to a pastor's capricious whims and forced convictions to know that,sadly, this does indeed happen.

This is Book One in the Brides of Gabriel series, and I'm now in the unfortunate position of having to wait until Book Two comes out. Because I will DEFINITELY be reading it.

I'm participating in Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books:

Tagged: 15 Authors in 15 Minutes

My friend Linda tagged me on Facebook with something titled "15 Authors in 15 Minutes." I'm assuming this is supposed to be a list of 15 of my favorite authors, so here goes!

By the way, I'm going to be doing this completely off the top of my head, in no prticular order...

1. Charlotte Bronte--Jane Eyre is my second favorite book of all time, after the Bible.


This is the cover of the paperback of Jane Eyre that I wore out in high school and college

2. Emily Bronte--for Wuthering Heights, of course.

3. Jane Austen--mainly for Pride and Prejudice, but I've read most, if not all, of her other books. (Interestingly, Charlotte Bronte couldn't stand Jane Austen's writing!)


A scene from the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice

4. Charles Dickens--mainly for Great Expectations, but he's pretty much incomparable.

5. C.S. Lewis--first fell in love with the Chronicles of Narnia, but love everything else I've read by him.



6. Rosamunde Pilcher--she just has a way of making you completely at home in her stories.

7. Maeve Binchy--ditto.

8. Mary Stewart--for everything she ever wrote, except for her Merlin books, which I never read.


One of my favorite Mary Stewart books, which deftly combined suspense and romance in breathtaking settings

9. Victoria Holt--AKA Elinor Hibbert, Jean Plaidy, Philippa Carr--yep, I'm not real sophisticated. I loved these books as a teen, and they were romantic and suspenseful without being offensive.

10. Francine Rivers--for everything she's written, and I've read all of it.

11. Jane Kirkpatrick--her beautiful writing transcends the limits of Christian fiction.

12. Liz Curtis Higgs--ditto.

13. Madeleine Brent--I devoured "her" books as a teen, not realizing that Madeleine Brent was a pen-name for an author who was actually--a dude!

14. Agatha Christie--I went on a spree of reading her books several years ago, and now I don't remember which ones I have and haven't read...bummer.

15. B. J. Hoff--especially for her Emerald Ballad series, which made Irish history come alive for me.

Flashback: An interview with the inimitable Liz Curtis Higgs

When I did a radio interview with Liz Curtis Higgs in March 2004, she had already written two very engaging contemporary novels, and was now launching into an amazing venture into historical fiction that would keep going for quite some time.

When I first started reading Thorn in My Heart, it didn't take long for me to think, "OK...wait a minute...this story sounds VERY familiar."

Who but Liz Curtis Higgs would think to set the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel in 18th-century Scotland? And not only make it work, but make it riveting?

Go here to read my interview with Liz, and go here to find out all about her and catch up with the many wonderful books she's written since then.

Flashback: Jane Kirkpatrick

...and a terrific give-away to tell you about...

Jane Kirkpatrick has written many wonderful books since 2003...most of which I've read. But in October 2003, when I started my blog Notes in the Key of Life, she was promoting A Name of Her Own and Every Fixed Star, the first books in her Tender Ties series.

The series is based on a remarkable, real woman named Marie Dorion, who was the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest.

Now, I must tell you that I adore Jane Kirkpatrick, both as a writer and as a person.
Back in 2003 I wrote:

"From the time I picked up Jane's book, A Sweetness to the Soul ,I realized that here was a very remarkable Christian author. Her beautiful,lyrical writing style would grace any writing genre. Probably my favorite Kirkpatrick book,though, is Love to Water my Soul. Few authors possess such a gift of evoking a mood or capturing a description sheerly through finely crafted wordsmithing and absorbing storytelling."

As a radio host, I had the privilege of interviewing Jane several times. I remember once, her home phone was dead, and she had to drive to the top of a mountain to get cell phone service to do the interview. I love that!




If you haven't read anything by Jane Kirkpatrick, do yourself a favor and get one of her books today.

In the meantime, read my October 2003 interview with Jane:

Part One

Part Two

And be sure to check out Jane Kirkpatrick's website for an update on her latest writings.

And now for that give-away!





Sarah Sundin presents The Movies and Memories Giveaway in honor of book 2 in the Wings of Glory series. A Memory Between Us is available for purchase wherever fine books are sold. From the English countryside to the perilous skies over France, A Memory Between Us takes you on a journey through love, forgiveness, and sacrifice.






To celebrate Sarah is giving one lucky winner A Movie and Memory Prize Package! One grand prize winner will receive:


* Make-your-own-photo book from Mypublisher.com (Capture your own Memories)


* Netflix Subscription (New or Nostalgic Movies delivered right to your house)


* Starbucks gift card (To keep your engine revvin’)


*Gourmet chocolate (A favorite in the 1940’s and now)


* British specialty teas in carved wooden box (Timeless tradition)


* Miniature model of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber & C-47 cargo plane (Everyone needs a few toy planes)


*Big Band music CD (Break out your dancing shoes)


* WWII authentic poster playing cards (Cards – a perfect game for two)


* Keep Calm and Carry On (Uplifting sayings WWII, a boost for troubled times)


To enter simple click on the icons below (contest runs 9/27 - 10/17!)